Thrift Store Archeologist

 

As you may have gathered, I spend a lot of time going to thrift stores and antique malls. I've done this for years. But I used to go to look for cool things for myself. And when I say cool things, I mean unusual things...unique things...curiosities. I have always been a collector, even since I was a kid. Problem is, there is a fine line between being a collector and being a hoarder. 

When I lived alone, it wasn't so much a problem. Granted I accumulated a ton of stuff that started to overwhelm my house. But then I got married. And most of my accumulated stuff went to Goodwill and Value Village or into plastic bins. For years after I got married, the bins were stacked in the garage untouched and more or less forgotten.  Then the pandemic hit and we were all home and there was a period where we thought we were going to sell and move. So I decided to go through the stored bins and get rid of things. That's when I really started selling on eBay. 

I pretty much emptied the bins. I was on a mission. And in retrospect I regret I didn't hold on to some of the stuff that I still think was pretty cool. But then we decided not to sell but remodel and most of our stuff went into storage. But in the remodel I got a new office that I put a lot of thought into decorating. Today it houses my guitar collection, what's left of my Elvis collection, my Tiki mug collection and my Buddha and Eastern Religion collection. There's also some sub collections of New Orleans, Reno and Las Vegas memorabilia. 

But now the office has pretty much reached its limit of what I can collect so I turned to eBay once again to allow me to cull the herd and accumulate new old stuff without overwhelming my environment. What I have discovered is that I really enjoy sifting through things at thrift stores and antique malls. I equate it to an archeology dig that helps me uncover treasures. I feel as though I've become pretty adept at recognizing things that are collectible and sellable versus just junk. This requires a great deal of research. 

The research aspect of collecting began when I emptied my bins of stuff during the pandemic. Because before you can sell something you have to know what it is, what it is for and what makes it collectible and potentially valuable. In the process I have learned a great deal about pottery, glassware, Starbuck's coffee cups, vintage souvenirs, ashtrays, shot glasses, nesting dolls, a of course Tiki.

ChatGPT and Google are essential in this thrift store archeologist realm. Google has this great function where you can take a photo of something and search for similar things on the web. It is like taking off the initial layer of dirt at an archeology dig. Then you look for marks, logos, signatures, dates and other things that narrow down where the item came from.  Pretty soon you can sift through a knickknack and curio shelf at Goodwill and find things that you begin to recognize as collectible.

Perfect example, yesterday I found this small glass angel with hand painted flowers on it. It was this odd fluorescent green color. It had a label on the bottom the maker's name and it was signed by the artist. I took a chance that it was collectible. After research I discovered it was something called a Fenton Yellow Vaseline Angel. It gets its color by adding small amounts of uranium dioxide during the manufacturing process. It glows under ultraviolet light because of the uranium. I listed the angel and it sold in just a few hours for much more than I paid for it at Good Will. 

That was a truly successful dig.